Authors review the clinical and histopathologic findings of 41 EIenoch-Schonlein purpur.a patients and attempt, to clarify the association between abnorma] urinary findings and anti-streptolysin 0(ASLO) titer and performed the direct immunofluorescence(',E)II) study on skin lesion to investigate the pathogenetic mechanim of renal involvement. The results were summarized as follows : 1. Ag(, distribution was form 3 month to 63 years and mean age was 18.9 years. male to female ratio was 1.2:1(22 males '. 19 females). 2. In he past history, there were preceding upper respora.tory infections in 25(61:o)patients and drug history in 10(24.3%)patients. 3. (linical manifestations in the order of frequency were as follows : arthralgia (60.9%), hematuria or albuminuria(43.8%), abdominal pain(21.9%), and positive occult: blood test(7.3%)in stool examination. 4. In the laboratory fiindings, leukocytosis was cleveloped in 14.6%, anemia in 2.4%, increased eryttrocyte sec1imentation zate in 12.3% increased ASLG titer in 43.9% of patients, and serum IgG was increased in 4 of 20(20.6)patierits, IgA in 4 of 21(19%)patients, IgM in 1fo 19(5.3o)patients. 5. Because correlation between increased A.LO titer ancl ahnoormal urinary findings wa.s high(x-test, p< 0.0,5), increased ASI,O titer may be inclicator of renal involvement. 6. DIF stuc].y was per formed in 34 patients. All showed positive reactiviy. IgG(17%), IgA(29.4% ), Clq(14.6%), C3(12.2% ), fibrinog.n(82.4%) were deposited around the vessel wall in a granular pattern. 7. There was statistically significant increase in mean serum IgG value in patients with abnormal urinary findings( t test, p < 0.05 ).
Anemia ; Arthralgia ; Female ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Leukocytosis ; Male ; Purpura* ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch ; Skin

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Estrogens*

No abstract available.
Antibody Formation* ; Heat-Shock Proteins* ; Hot Temperature* ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome*

No abstract available.
Enterocolitis, Necrotizing* ; Soy Milk*

n-Hexane and benezene are organic compounds which have been widely used as industrial solvents. However, they are also increasingly recognized as important pollutants in working environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze neurotoxicity of benzene and n-Hexane. In this study, tibial nerve of Sprague-Dawley rats were observed after exposing them to two different concentrations of these compounds (6000 ppm of n-Hexane and 2000 ppm of benezene) which were known to be the levels to cause subacute toxicity for the three different periods; two weeks, four weeks, and sex weeks. The following results were obtained from the analysis of variance, Duncan's multiple comparison test, and regression analysis: 1) Myelin sheath thickness of nerve fiber for two n-Hexane exposed groups (four weeks and six weeks) were both reduced compared with the control group and the benezene exposed group. 2) There were positive relationships between nerve fiber diameter and myelin sheath thickness for both exposed and control groups. 3) There were significant difference in myelin sheath thickness from equal diameter nerve fibers between benzene exposed group and control group, but the greater number of thin myelin sheath were observed for n-Hexane exposed group compared with control group. Thus, it is concluded that n-Hexane tends to reduce the rate of growth of nerve fiber more than the benzene and control group. While these results shed light on understanding the effects of benzene and n-Hexane, the duration of exposure was not long enough to apply these results to real working environments. In addition, to further understand the mechanism of nerve degeneration caused by organic solvents, both epidemiological and biochemical studies should accompanied by this kind of study.
Animals ; Benzene* ; Myelin Sheath ; Nerve Degeneration ; Nerve Fibers ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Solvents ; Tibial Nerve*

Surgery for a mid-esophageal lesion requires an open thoracotomy, But authors resected out a stenotic thoracic esphageal lesion with laparoscopic instrument without open thoracotomy. The patient was 50 years old woman with a long history of progressive dyaphagia. A small (3 cm in diameter) smooth ovoid submucosal mass lesion was found at 26 cm distal from incisor on both esophagoscopy and esophagogram. Two 5 mm and two 10 mm trocars were inserted into the right pleural cavity under general anesthesia with double lumen endotracheal tube, An induced pneumothorax by insuffulation of CO2 gas made lung collapse and a good exposure of esophagus. Transorally introduced esophagoscope helped to demonstrate the exact location of lesion and also to give a guide at safe excision of mass with prevention of mucosal perforation. The lesion was found to be a congromeration of an inflammed hilar lympnode and hypertorphic esophageal muscle. The entire lesion was carefully dissected from esphageal mucosa and resected out en bloc. A chest tube was introduced through a trocar site. The lung was reinflated immediately. Post-operatively patient was very comfortable. Laparoscopic surgery is very effective and safe, and it could be applied for the resection of lung bullae, benign pulmonary neoplasm and for an excision of benign esophageal tumor.
Anesthesia, General ; Chest Tubes ; Esophagoscopes ; Esophagoscopy ; Esophagus ; Female ; Humans ; Incisor ; Laparoscopy ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Middle Aged ; Mucous Membrane ; Pleural Cavity ; Pneumothorax ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Surgical Instruments ; Thoracotomy*

No abstract available.
Ischium ; Osteomyelitis

The bone formation of periarticular connective tissue after head injury and total hip arthroplasty is included in the category of heterotopic ossification. Induction of a new bone formation in the soft tissue is related to various materials such as bone morphogenic protein. The alkaline phosphatase and acid phosphatase act as important factors in the formation and absorption of the bone. The acid phospatase has the important function of acting as the control with specific activity of phosphatase in vivo. Cholecalciferol induces absorption of the calcium in the alimentary tract and bone resorption and increment of bone calcification, whereas disodium etidronate inhibits the deposition and dissolution of calcium salt and formation of heterotopic bone. This paper reports on the relationship of alkaline phosphatase and various phosphoaminoacid phosphatase which affect the cellular differentiation and remodelling in the heterotopic ossification, with the effect of cholecalciferol and disodium etidronate on the heterotopic bone induction in rats. The following results were obtained: 1. The contents of the calcium in the implanted bone matrix increased markedly from two to five weeks. There was no changes in the calcium content by cholecalciferol or in the administration of small doses of disodium etidronate (5mg/kg). However, in the administration of large dose of disodium etidronate (25mg/kg), calcium mobilization was totally suppressed for the whole period of the experiment. 2. The protein content in the implanted bone matrix did not much change for the whole period of the experiment and the administratinn of cholecalciferol or disodium etidronate also had no effect on the protein content. 3. The activities of alkaline phosphatase in the implanted bone matrix peaked at two weeks in control or cholecalciferol group, whereas disodium etidronate admninstration caused the highest activity in the third week. 4. The activity of acid phosphatase in the implanted bone matrix increased in first and third weeks by cholecalciferol treatment. Disoidum etidronate inhibited the activity of the acid phosphatase in the first, fourth & sixth weeks of implantation. 5. The activity of phosphoserine phosphatase increased due to cholecalciferol treatment, but was significantly inhibited by disodium etidronate (25mg/kg) treatment. 6. The activity of phosphothreonine phosphatase in the implanted bone matrix slightly increased due to cholecalciferol treatment, whereas the activity decreased significantly for the whole period of the experiment by disodium etidronate (25mg/kg) treatment. 7. The activity of phosphotyrosine phosphatase in the implanted bone matrix was not change much for the whole period of the experiment and the administration of cholecalciferol or disodium etidronate had no effect on the activity of phosphotyrosine phosphatase. In conclusion, the disodium etidronate (25mg/kg) almost completely inhibited the molilization of calcium and the activities of acid phosphatase, phosphoserine and phosphothreonine phosphatases. Therefore, it can be suggested that the above phosphatases are closely related to the action mechanism of disodium etidronate.
Absorption ; Acid Phosphatase ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Animals ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Bone Matrix ; Bone Resorption ; Calcium ; Cholecalciferol ; Connective Tissue ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Etidronic Acid ; Ossification, Heterotopic ; Osteogenesis ; Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases ; Phosphoserine ; Phosphothreonine ; Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases ; Rats

No abstract available.
Abortion, Habitual* ; Cytogenetics* ; Family Characteristics* ; Female ; Pregnancy

Human assisted reproductive technology programs have been being developed marvelously during this decade. However, implantation rates following embryo replacement remain low, regardless of increased fertilization rates by ICSI. One proposed possibility limiting the successful implantation is an impaired hatching caused by suboptimal culture conditions. As to improve the hatching potential of blastocysts, assisted hatching by an artificial alteration of zona pellucida(ZP) have been done in many laboratories using the various methods. We tried to investigate whether the supplementation of proteases into culture media has any effect on development, zona structure, and/or hatching of mouse embryos. Supplementation of either pronase E(PE) or proteinase K(PK) in culture media did not affect development up to blastocyst but significantly increased hatching rate. And we observed the alteration of ultrastructure and casein binding properties of ZP in mouse embryos. Also we investigated the effects of protease on development of human embryos and pregnancy rates in human ART program. From July 1994 to December 1996, 792 cycles(for study I) and 1095 cycles(for study II) undergoing the IVF-ET program in MizMedi Hospital were randomly selected for BAH. The concentrations of proteases used in this study were 1microgram/ml PE, 0.1microgram/ml PK and 1microgram/mlPE+0.1microgram/ml PK in HTF with 0.5% human serum albumin(HSA), and in vitro fertilized embryos were cultured for 24 hours. We analyzed the efficiency and stability of biochemical assisted hatching(BAH) according to the clinical profiles of patients and fertilization methods. After cultured in HTF with proteases for 24 hours of human embryos, the thinning in zona pellucida of embryos was observed but its development was not disturbed. Also, clinical pregnancy rates were higher in the PE, PK and PE+PK groups than the control group without proteases(36.0%(32/89), 35.3%(36/102), 35.1%(39/111) vs. 25.5%(125/490), p<0.05). The live birth rate in the PE, PK and PE+PK groups were increased than control, and the abortion rate were not different. They were showed a effect and safety of proteases treatment in human embryos. We selected PE as BAH for study II because of slightly better embryonic morphology and pregnancy rate. In patients over 35 years old, clinical pregnancy rates of the BAH group was higher than that of the control group(31.4%(58/185) vs. 22.2%(51/230); p<0.05). And in the cases with few oocytes retrieval, or less than 3 cycles of IVF-ET, clinical pregnancy rates of the BAH group was significantly higher than that of the control group(36.8%(86/234) vs. 27.2%(93/342), p<0.05; 36.8%(148/402) vs. 29.9%(168/562), p<0.05). In BAH groups, the clinical pregnancy rate was similar between conventional IVF and ICSI group. From above results, it is suggested that improved hatching by protease treatment is due to physiological alteration of ZP structure, giving rise to the similar hatching process to that in vivo. We suggest that BAH using protease is a simple, safe and economic technique compared to the other known assisted hatching techniques in human ART program.
Abortion, Induced ; Adult ; Animals ; Blastocyst ; Caseins ; Culture Media ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Fertilization ; Herpes Zoster ; Humans* ; Live Birth ; Mice ; Oocytes ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pronase ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; Zona Pellucida